pointer

See also: Pointer

English

Etymology

From point +‎ -er (agent noun suffix) or +‎ -er (measurement suffix) (sense 4).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔɪn.tə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔɪn.təɹ/, /ˈpɔɪnəɹ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: point‧er
• Rhymes: -ɔɪntə(ɹ)

Noun

pointer (plural pointers)

1. Anything that points or is used for pointing.
   1. One who points.
      • 1972, Lynn Hall, Sticks and Stones:

        The talkers and pointers had undermined him. They had touched him with the acid of their suspicions, and the corrosion spread until he himself had lost sight of the truth.

      • 2006, Alexandre Dumas, translated by Richard Pevear, The Three Musketeers, Viking, →ISBN, pages 645–646:

        The man he addressed drew back in horror, but answered the musketeer’s words by pointing his finger. Athos offered the man a half pistole to accompany him, but the man refused. Athos went down the street that the pointer had indicated to him with his finger; […]

      • 2010, Donald Junkins, Half Hitch, iUniverse, →ISBN:

        “Hey,” the finger pointer said, re-pointing his finger at Joe, “are you a joke or what?” / “I don't think I'm a joke.” / “Well I think you're a joke.” He dropped his hand and then lifted it again and pointed his finger at Joe's chest.

      • 2020, J.M. Griffin, Who’s Dead, Doc?, Kensington Books, →ISBN:

        One man pointed his finger at another, nearly poking the tip of it into the man’s chest. I sidled closer and heard the pointer accuse the other man of cheating.

   3. A teacher's pointer, pointing stick, a rod with an arrow.

      Synonym: fescue

      Hyponym: yad

   5. A needlelike component of a timepiece or measuring device that indicates the time or the current reading of the device.

      Synonyms: hand, needle

   7. (hunting) A breed of hunting dog, trained to point out game.

      Coordinate terms: retriever, setter

      • 2007, American Kennel Club, The Complete Dog Book, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 30:

        Most of the early wirehaired pointers represented a combination of Griffon, Stichelhaar, Pudelpointer, and German Shorthair. The Pudelpointer was a cross between a Poodle dog and an English Pointer bitch; the Griffon and the Stichelhaar were composed of Pointer, Foxhound, Pudelpointer, and a Polish water dog.

   8. (programming) A variable that holds the address of a memory location where a value can be stored.

      Synonym: reference

      Hyponyms: dangling pointer, function pointer, null pointer

      • 1974, Donald Knuth, “Structured Programming with go to Statements”, in Computing Surveys‎, volume 6, number 5, →DOI, archived from the original on 24 August 2009, pages 261–301:

        I do consider assignment statements and pointer variables to be among computer science's "most valuable treasures."

   10. (graphical user interface) An icon that indicates the position of the pointing device, such as a mouse.

       Synonym: cursor

       • 1995, Aaron Marcus, Nick Smilonich, Lynne Thompson, The Cross-GUI Handbook, Addison-Wesley, →ISBN, page 231:

         The system notifies the user of the progress of a task by changing the appearance of the pointer. System-busy pointers usually adopt a timepiece metaphor.

2. (chiefly in the plural) A tip, a bit of advice.

   Synonym: advice

   The instructor gave me some pointers on writing a good paper.

   • 1964 April, “News and Comment: Auxiliaries in LT stock”, in Modern Railways, page 234:

     In a paper to the Institute of Locomotive Engineers on February 17 which ranged over the whole subject of auxiliary services on London Transport rolling stock, Mr. R. I. D. Arthurton, Mechanical Engineer (Development—Railways) London Transport Board, gave some pointers to the future on the Victoria Line and elsewhere.

3. Something that gives a point (sharp end) to something.

   pencil pointer

5. (in combinations) Something worth a given number of points.

   a ten-pointer

   • 2011 September 18, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia”, in BBC Sport‎:

     After another penalty miss, Kvirikashvili finally found the target on 27 minutes before Flood hit back with a three-pointer of his own.

Derived terms

• back pointer
• Faraday pointer
• finger-pointer
• five-pointer
• Hungarian Pointer
• laser pointer
• mouse pointer
• pointer finger
• point-to-pointer
• shared pointer
• six pointer
• six-pointer
• smart pointer
• station pointer
• three-pointer
• white pointer
• wild pointer

Translations

anything that points or is used for pointing

Bashkir: күрһәткес (kürhətkes) Belarusian: ука́зка f (ukázka) Bulgarian: показа́лка f (pokazálka) Chinese: Mandarin: 教鞭 (zh) (jiàobiān) (esp. teacher's pointer), 指示棍 (zhǐshìgùn) Finnish: osoitin (fi) French: aiguille (fr) f, baguette (fr) f German: Zeigestock m, Zeigestab m Hungarian: mutató (hu) Italian: bacchetta (it) f Japanese: 文字さし (もじさし, mojisashi), 教鞭 (ja) (きょうべん, kyōben), 指し棒 (さしぼう, sashibō) Korean: 지시봉(指示棒) (jisibong) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: nîşanderk (ku) f Malay: penuding Polish: wskaźnik (pl) m Portuguese: ponteiro (pt) m Russian: ука́зка (ru) f (ukázka) (e.g. teacher or instructor), указа́тель (ru) m (ukazátelʹ) Spanish: puntero (es) m Thai: ไม้ชี้ Ukrainian: ука́зка (ukázka) Vietnamese: que chỉ

teacher's pointer

Bashkir: күрһәткес (kürhətkes) Belarusian: ука́зка f (ukázka) Bulgarian: показа́лка f (pokazálka) Chinese: Mandarin: 教鞭 (zh) (jiàobiān) Finnish: karttakeppi (fi) German: Zeigestock m, Zeigestab m Italian: bacchetta (it) f Japanese: 指し棒 (さしぼう, sashibō) Korean: 교편(敎鞭) (ko) (gyopyeon) Polish: wskaźnik (pl) m Russian: ука́зка (ru) f (ukázka) Spanish: puntero (es) m Swedish: pekpinne (sv) c Turkish: işaret çubuğu Ukrainian: ука́зка f (ukázka)

needle of a timepiece or measuring device

Azerbaijani: ibrə Belarusian: стрэ́лка f (strélka) Bulgarian: стрелка́ (bg) f (strelká) Chinese: Mandarin: 指針 / 指针 (zh) (zhǐzhēn) Esperanto: montrilo (eo) Finnish: osoitin (fi), viisari (fi) (colloquial) French: aiguille (fr) f German: Zeiger (de) m, Nadel (de) f Italian: indicatore (it) m Japanese: 指針 (ja) (ししん, shishin) Korean: 바늘 (ko) (baneul), 지침(指針) (ko) (jichim) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: nîşanderk (ku) f, mîl (ku) m Malay: jarum penunjuk Ottoman Turkish: ایكنه (iğne) Polish: wskazówka (pl) f Portuguese: ponteiro (pt) m Russian: стре́лка (ru) m (strélka) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ка̀за̄љка f Roman: kàzāljka (sh) f Spanish: aguja (es) f, saeta (es) f, índex (es) m, saetilla (es) f, manecilla (es) f Swedish: visare (sv) c Ukrainian: стрі́лка f (strílka)

hunting dog

Bulgarian: по́йнтер m (pójnter) Chinese: Mandarin: 指標犬 / 指标犬 (zhǐbiāoquǎn) Finnish: pointteri (fi), seisoja (fi), kanakoira French: braque (fr) m, chien d'arrêt (fr) German: Vorstehhund, Pointer (de) m Greek: πόιντερ (el) n (póinter) Hungarian: angol vizsla, pointer (hu) Ido: brako (io) Italian: puntatore m, cane da punta m, bracco (it) m Korean: 포인터 (pointeo) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: poyinter Malay: anjing penuding Polish: wyżeł (pl) m Portuguese: pointer (pt) m Russian: по́йнтер (ru) m (pójntɛr) Scottish Gaelic: cù-eunaich m Spanish: perro de muestra, braco Swedish: pointer (sv) c

computer programming: variable that stores the address of another variable

Arabic: مُؤَشِّر m (muʔaššir) Armenian: please add this translation if you can Bulgarian: указа́тел (bg) m (ukazátel), по́йнтер m (pójnter) Catalan: apuntador (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 指標 / 指标 (zh) (zhǐbiāo), 指針 / 指针 (zh) (zhǐzhēn) Czech: ukazatel (cs) m Dutch: pointer (nl) Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Estonian: viit Finnish: osoitin (fi), pointteri (fi) (colloquial) French: pointeur (fr) m Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: Zeiger (de) m, Pointer (de) m Greek: δείκτης (el) m (deíktis) Icelandic: bendir m Italian: puntatore m Japanese: ポインタ (ja) (pointa) Korean: 포인터 (pointeo) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: nîşanderk (ku) f Malay: penuding Persian: اشارال Polish: wskaźnik (pl) m Portuguese: ponteiro (pt) m Romanian: pointer m Russian: указа́тель (ru) m (ukazátelʹ), по́йнтер (ru) m (pójntɛr) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ка̀за̄љка f, показѝва̄ч m Roman: kàzāljka (sh) f, pokazìvāč (sh) m Spanish: apuntador (es) m, puntero (es) m Swedish: pekare (sv) c Thai: please add this translation if you can Turkish: göstergeç (tr) Ukrainian: вказівни́к m (vkazivnýk) Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

tip, bit of advice

Bulgarian: указа́ние (bg) n (ukazánie) German: Fingerzeig (de) m Maori: tīwhiri Polish: wskazówka (pl) f Portuguese: dica (pt) f Spanish: indicación (es) f, sugerencia (es) f, idea (es) f, consejo (es) m, recomendación (es) f, tip (es) m

computing: icon indicating mouse position — see cursor

advice — see advice

See also

• (programming) dereference, address

Further reading

• pointer (dog) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• pointer (computer programming) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• pointer (user interface) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• pointer (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Petrino, Petroni, interop, protein, pterion, repoint, tropein, tropine

Dutch

Etymology

From English pointer.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

pointer m (plural pointers, diminutive pointertje n)

1. (programming) pointer

French

Etymology 1

From point +‎ -er, from the past participle of poindre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pwɛ̃.te/
• Homophones: pointai, pointé, pointée, pointées, pointés, pointez
• Rhymes: -e

Verb

pointer

1. (transitive) to point to/at

   pointer du doigt ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   pointer le bout de son nez ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   pointer son nez ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. (transitive, by extension) to indicate, to show, to point out
3. (intransitive) to clock in, to clock on, to punch in; to clock out, to clock off, to punch out (to enter or leave a workplace by punching a time card)
4. (informal, pronominal) to show up, turn up

   Synonyms: arriver, se ramener, ramener sa fraise

   On doit se pointer à quelle heure?

   What time do we have to show up?

Conjugation

Conjugation of pointer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	pointer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	pointant /pwɛ̃.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		pointé /pwɛ̃.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	pointe /pwɛ̃t/	pointes /pwɛ̃t/	pointe /pwɛ̃t/	pointons /pwɛ̃.tɔ̃/	pointez /pwɛ̃.te/	pointent /pwɛ̃t/
	imperfect	pointais /pwɛ̃.tɛ/	pointais /pwɛ̃.tɛ/	pointait /pwɛ̃.tɛ/	pointions /pwɛ̃.tjɔ̃/	pointiez /pwɛ̃.tje/	pointaient /pwɛ̃.tɛ/
	past historic2	pointai /pwɛ̃.te/	pointas /pwɛ̃.ta/	pointa /pwɛ̃.ta/	pointâmes /pwɛ̃.tam/	pointâtes /pwɛ̃.tat/	pointèrent /pwɛ̃.tɛʁ/
	future	pointerai /pwɛ̃.tʁe/	pointeras /pwɛ̃.tʁa/	pointera /pwɛ̃.tʁa/	pointerons /pwɛ̃.tʁɔ̃/	pointerez /pwɛ̃.tʁe/	pointeront /pwɛ̃.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	pointerais /pwɛ̃.tʁɛ/	pointerais /pwɛ̃.tʁɛ/	pointerait /pwɛ̃.tʁɛ/	pointerions /pwɛ̃.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	pointeriez /pwɛ̃.tə.ʁje/	pointeraient /pwɛ̃.tʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	pointe /pwɛ̃t/	pointes /pwɛ̃t/	pointe /pwɛ̃t/	pointions /pwɛ̃.tjɔ̃/	pointiez /pwɛ̃.tje/	pointent /pwɛ̃t/
	imperfect2	pointasse /pwɛ̃.tas/	pointasses /pwɛ̃.tas/	pointât /pwɛ̃.ta/	pointassions /pwɛ̃.ta.sjɔ̃/	pointassiez /pwɛ̃.ta.sje/	pointassent /pwɛ̃.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	pointe /pwɛ̃t/	—	pointons /pwɛ̃.tɔ̃/	pointez /pwɛ̃.te/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• pointage
• zéro pointé

Descendants

• → German: pointieren

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English pointer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pwɛ̃.tɛʁ/

Noun

pointer m (plural pointers)

1. pointer (dog)

Further reading

• “pointer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English pointer.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔjn.teʁ/ [ˈpɔɪ̯n.teh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔjn.teʁ/ [ˈpɔɪ̯n.teh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔjn.teɾ/ [ˈpɔɪ̯n.teɾ]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔjn.teʁ/ [ˈpɔɪ̯n.teχ]
  • (Porto Alegre) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔjn.teɻ/ [ˈpɔɪ̯n.teɻ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔjn.tɛɾ/

Noun

pointer m (plural pointers)

1. pointer (breed of hunting dog)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English pointer.

Noun

pointer m (plural pointeri)

1. (programming) pointer
   • 2021 September 8, Wikipedia contributors, “C (limbaj de programare)”, in English Wikipedia‎, Wikimedia Foundation:

     Acești pointeri sunt foarte folositori în programarea generică.

     These pointers are very useful in generic programming.

2. (hunting) pointer (dog breed)

Declension

Declension of pointer

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	pointer	pointerul		pointeri	pointerii
genitive-dative	pointer	pointerului		pointeri	pointerilor
vocative	pointerule			pointerilor